Why Does Ken Cuccinelli Want to Fix the RNC?
Late last week, Politico reported that former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli announced a plan to reform the rules of the Republican National Committee. Politico reported:
“Former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, a prominent conservative and expert on the complexities of the party convention process, has begun pitching GOP delegates on a proposal that would have far-reaching consequences for the party. The idea: strip the Republican National Committee chair of power and decentralize control of the party apparatus, handing it over to the 168 RNC members who compose the national party. The package, according to three sources who’ve been briefed on the matter, would also aim to diminish the overall power of the RNC and empower grass-roots conservatives in future party nominations. Under the concept, for example, the RNC chair would lose the power to appoint powerful party officers.”
“Cuccinelli, a former top aide to Ted Cruz who is currently working for a pro-Cruz super PAC, may be thinking ahead to the next presidential election in 2020. Many RNC members believe Cuccinelli is looking to alter the party rules in a way that would help Cruz, a conservative favorite, should he run again in four years.”
The basics of the rules push involve a familiar theme. The RNC has too much power, let’s put power in the hands of the elected representatives to the RNC. It’s not something that I am totally against, as the RNC could use major reforms to decentralize power from Washington.
However, the article seems to side-step the likely reason why the former Attorney General is making this push to change the RNC rules. The article nationalizes the issue (not uncommon with national publications) while ignoring the underlying reason. While helping Senator Cruz is not an unlikely side-effect, the reality is that this move sounds a bit too much like what he did in 2012 with RPV’s State Central Committee.
In essence, it seems like Ken wants to be a kingmaker again. He also wants to remain relevant. What a better way to do that than to repeat what he did in Virginia, this time at the national level?
Ken has been on a bit of a losing streak, something that he probably has not gotten used to. After multiple wins, including some very close races, he lost his Governor’s bid in 2013. Some can say it’s because of the convention’s poorly chosen LG candidate or the fact that he was seen as overly divisive to the general electorate. Regardless of the reasons why, it can’t have been easy to go from winning everything to losing.
After that, Ken turned down an appointment to the Virginia Supreme Court earlier this year. The votes were there to make that happen. This maneuver clearly was a last minute hail-Mary gambit to get the Senate Democrats to vote for the Senate Republican choice, it was still an option and would have gotten him back in government without needing to appeal to voters in a state that had already rejected him once. Instead, he turned it down, choosing to be legal counsel for FreedomWorks among other private sector roles. It would have been a major coup, and it would have made most Virginia Democrats’ heads fly off. However, he chose to work for a political action committee over the Virginia Supreme Court, a move that clearly shows he’s more interested in the northern side of the Potomac River.
His chosen candidate for President, Ted Cruz, also lost. Senator Cruz came in second in delegates but third in the Virginia primary, following Donald Trump and Marco Rubio. That’s not to say that he or Senator Cruz doesn’t have support in the Commonwealth. Given the number of Ted Cruz supporters making up the Virginia delegation in Cleveland, it was little surprise that he’d be chosen to lead the delegation to Cleveland in a few weeks.
That win, however, underlies his inherent weakness. In his quest to stay relevant, he slated (some would say shoe-horned) the state delegation full of Cruz loyalists, outnumbering Trump supporters 10-3. He was booed at the RPV convention after those anti-Trump tactics culminated in slating off Corey Stewart, Trump’s Virginia Co-Chair, from the list of Virginia national convention delegates. It’s to the point where even bringing up his name in certain circles will have Trump supporters labeling him “the political establishment” – something people would have considered completely absurd just a year or two ago. Cuccinelli may have considered himself a victor that rainy Saturday in April, but he may have just won a battle and lost the war. He will never be embraced by the Republican “establishment” and every Trump voter in the Commonwealth considers him a traitor. How can anybody come back from that?
The events at that convention helped lead to the utter collapse of the “Conservative Fellowship” on the Republican Party of Virginia State Central Committee. Russ Moulton was considered by many to be the leader of the “Conservative Fellowship,” but Cuccinelli played an important role, too. Many also forget one of the original purposes of the Fellowship, which was to to flip the method of nomination in 2013 for primary to convention to ensure Cuccinelli had the upper hand against Bill Bolling.
However, as recently as two weeks ago, his political house of cards on State Central came crashing down. With the elections of statewide and regional officers at the recent State Central Committee meeting, whatever was left of the Fellowship’s majority crumbled.
Now, Mr. Cuccinelli is trying to recreate his crowning achievement of stealing the 2013 gubernatorial nomination out from under Bill Bolling’s nose by messing with the RNC just like he did RPV. It’s clearly a step down for someone whose meteoric rise in the party went unchecked for over a decade.
All political people have an ego and they’re prideful in their work, often rightfully so. However, in my opinion, Mr. Cuccinelli takes it to an extreme. His pride has lead him to this, scrounging for headlines by pushing RNC rules changes that the average voter does not care about. Politico could very well be right, that this is just a way to help Ted Cruz in 2020. That would be completely out of character for Mr. Cuccinelli, however, because he rarely does anything political without some political upside for himself. Perhaps he wants to run for US Senate in 2018, but that seems unlikely now, especially with a State Central that appears to lean towards nominating by primary in statewide races.
From leader of the party and rising star to political party rules lawyer. How the mighty have fallen.
